SLO 4
Portfolio of Work
Students will demonstrate an understanding of the ways learners’ personal, family, and community assets and cultural norms can be accessed and should be used to foster educational equity.
Overview
In every education course available at Ithaca College, the topic of culture and customs of students always comes up. The reason this topic is frequently visited is because the way a child is brought up affects the way they learn. Understanding a child's background can give insight on their norms, what they are used to and how they can learn best. Getting to know your students can improve their performance as you can provide them mediums that they are comfortable and familiar with. Knowing your students gives you the ability to provide educational equity for your students by giving them the tools they need to succeed.
Artifact 1
Pushout
In one of my courses I had the opportunity to read the book Pushout by Monique Morris. This book discussed the difficulties that young women of color experience in school. These young women are criminalized because of their cultural customs, appearance and the cultural norms or stereotypes that are associated with these students. These real life, heartbreaking examples show how the family and cultural customs that students bring to schools are seen as a burden instead of something that should be celebrated and incorporated into the classroom. This paper highlights my understanding of the negative outcomes of disregarding each students unique culture. Education should be made to be relative to students instead of following white dominant culture norms.
Artifact 2
Reading Foundations Midterm
In this artifact, I reflect on several readings that demonstrate the connections that students make from their personal lives to what they learn in the classroom. Evidence is shown that students respond to stories and situations based on their own concept of the world. Understanding students' backgrounds can give insight to their responses in the classroom and allows teachers to understand why students act this way. Understanding the individual backgrounds of students gives teachers the opportunity to include their students' point of view and understanding of the world into the classroom. Doing this can make it easier for students to learn material if the examples used are something they can relate to. It is important to provide students with this opportunity as it will foster an equitable education for students from all backgrounds.
